Preparing the contract documents, agreeing the terms.
There is a PDF in your inbox, forty-odd pages of it, and a builder who would like it back today so he can hold the slot. That pressure is real, and it is the single biggest reason people sign building contracts they have not read.
Take a week. Queensland regulates domestic building contracts through the QBCC, and the standard forms — Master Builders, HIA, or the Institute's — are all reasonable starting points. Which one it is matters far less than what has been typed into the schedules: the contract sum, the list of contract documents, the dates, the grounds on which time can be extended, the progress payment stages, and every provisional sum still floating.
The schedules are where the money is. A standard form signed with an incomplete document list is exactly how a builder later argues, quite legitimately, that the drawing showing the thing you wanted was never part of the contract.
The brand of contract barely matters. What is typed into the schedules decides everything.
It is not uncommon for projects to contain hidden surprises — unexpected ground conditions, a discontinued product, a level that doesn't sit as surveyed. An adequate written contract is designed to manage those events fairly from both points of view, and an architect can advise on the right contract type.
Signing something enormous. This is the largest financial commitment of most people's lives after the mortgage, and doing it without advice feels reckless because it is.
A builder's own contract, signed unread. The terms favour the builder, because they were written to. When a dispute arises, the mechanism for resolving it turns out to be entirely one-sided.
Contract advice carries real professional liability, so it is a service rather than a favour folded into the drawings. I will advise on the right contract type for the job and go through the terms with you before you sign. This is also the point to decide whether I stay on through construction, because the handover happens here. Deciding afterwards means the protocol was never set, and setting it retrospectively is much harder than setting it once, on day one.
Both are established Queensland-compliant domestic forms, and arguing about which is better is mostly a distraction. They allocate risk slightly differently and builders tend to have a preference based on which association they belong to. What actually determines your position is the annexures: what the contract sum includes, which drawings and specifications are listed as contract documents and at which revision, how variations are priced, what triggers an extension of time, and the defects liability period. Read those. A favourable form filled in carelessly is worse than a plainer form filled in properly.
The builder takes out the cover and pays the premium before starting work, and it is compulsory for residential building work above $3,300 of insurable value. In practice the cost is passed through to you inside the contract price, so you are paying for it either way — it is just not usually shown as a line. Ask for a copy of the insurance certificate and keep it with your other approvals. The scheme provides limited cover if the builder does not complete the work or the work is defective, and the notification periods are strict, so know it exists before you need it.
Check the builder's licence class and value limit on the QBCC register — licences are limited by the value of work they can take on. Check the contract sum against the tender you accepted. Check every drawing and specification is listed by number and revision. Check the deposit against the limits Queensland sets. Check that progress payment stages are tied to identifiable completed work. Check the dates, the extension-of-time grounds, and the defects liability period. Check who is named as administering the contract. And check the provisional sums — those are the numbers most likely to move.
For domestic building work, a variation is required to be in writing before the varied work starts, describing what is changing and what it does to the contract price, and you should be given a copy. A verbal instruction on site followed by an invoice weeks later does not meet that standard. Say so at the time, in writing, and ask for a proper variation document before the work proceeds. This is the single most useful protection you have on site, and most owners find out about it only after they have paid for three variations they never approved.
An architect can advise you on which contract type suits the project, prepare the contract documents, and administer the contract once it is signed. That is a defined professional service. What an architect is not doing is giving you legal advice on the terms. If the job is large, if the builder has proposed amendments to a standard form, or if anything in the special conditions makes you uneasy, pay a construction solicitor for an hour or two. It is a small cost against the largest contract most people sign after their mortgage.
If you would rather start small, the First Sketch Session is two hours at your place. You keep the sketches, and there is no obligation afterwards.